A General Purpose Digital System for Field Vibration Testing

This paper describes the development and concept implementation of a highly sensitive digital recording system for seismic applications and vibration measurements on large Civil Engineering structures. The system is based on highly sensitive motion transducers that have been used by seismologists and geophysicists for decades. The conventional geophone's ratio of cost to performance, including noise, linearity and dynamic range is unmatched by advanced modern accelerometers. The unit comprises six independent sensor elements that can be used in two different configurations for noise reduction and extended dynamic range. The paper describes the basic principles in the system design and the resulting application properties.